Jon Barrowstark
'''Jon Barrowstark '''is Captain of The Pride, A Cog ship. He is a long lost member of House Barrowstark, long thought dead since he was one year old. Appearance and Character With shoulder-length, dirt-brown hair and a dusting of stubble upon a weather beaten face, Jon Barrowstark is a man who looks like he's been exposed to the elements and come back to tell the tale. His smile isn't as much as a smile as it is a hungry grin. History Jon, in his infancy, was spirited from the castle by a prominent figure in his Father’s employ. On the beach, the water lapping at the shore and the chill cutting to the bone, the Guardsman kissed the boy he’d taken for his on the forehead and told him to be strong, that he’d meet up with them in a few days. The madman left the child and a pouch of silver with an ageing Captain, and asked the sailor to look after the lad until he caught up with them across the Narrow Sea. He never did. Jon grew. The ship journeyed around Westeros, across the Narrow Sea, never berthing in one port too long, trading in goods as they went. Jon learned his letters and numbers keeping books for the Captain, and though he had difficulty at first with the numbers, He was determined to master them. He befriended Torywn and Asha - the Cook’s children. The peace was not to last. The Pride was pursued by a longship as it made way for Rain’s House. Gryff, the Captain, was warned that the course they’d set took them too close to the Stepstones, that it was better to go around than through, but Gryff refused to alter it. The ships gave chase for two days before the wind conspired against the Pride, and in the night, with only the stars above to light the deck, they were boarded by a party led by a man named Cadwyl. The crew of the Pride fought, yet in the end, their efforts, their murders, were in vain. Torwyn, the cook’s boy, took up an axe to fight them off, and Jon, seeing his friend in the act, went to do the same, but the cook’s boy shoved Jon to the ground and cast a net weighed down by iron balls over him, too heavy for his young frame to shift. It took half a dozen of Cadwyl’s own men to end Gryff Greyscale. Men died in droves, and when it was done, when the deck was silent save for Torwyn’s heavy breathing and Asha’s sobs, Jon watched Cadwyl to the exclusion of all else. Torwyn they beheaded, but the cook’s wife did not cry out. They cut his limbs from him and threw them one by one into the ocean, and still the cook’s wife did not break. He cursed them, each man to the end of their days and down the line, too. Asha they took by the legs, dashed her head against the main mast. She broke then, their mother, who’d become like a mother to Jon over the years, too. She wailed and she sobbed and she thrashed about. They cut her throat and tossed both corpses overboard. They found Jon in the morning, his eyes still on Cadwyl, quiet as a crypt. They laughed, mocked, japed, these grown men with hair on their chins and muscle on their bones. When they asked what should be done with him, Cadwyl had Jon nailed by his hands and his feet to the ship’s prow. They did not expect him to survive. For that reason alone he was determined to live. The journey back to their hold took four days, at a more leisurely pace. Jon listened to the noises upon the deck, to the things whispered and the jokes shared, to the laughs and the wagers made. He learned their names, these men of Cadwyl’s crew, and burned them into his memory. One day He’d seek them out. When the came into port in Meereen it was Cadwyl himself who brought Jon down. His men urged that their captain should kill the pup there, that He was done and ruined, and Jon, pale as a spirit and bleeding from the holes in his hands and feet, couldn’t even snarl a retort. Cadwyl growled that Jon deserved a modicum of respect for his survival, and then he carried the boy ashore himself. Jon woke proper a month later. He was told by the armed guard in the room with him that he’d woken several times during his recovery, but only briefly. When the boy asked why he needed an armed guard, the man informed him that at one point, when He’d been conscious, He’d managed to roll from her bed, crawl down the hall, and kill a sleeping guard. They’d found him laughing. Life from that point was hell. Cadwyl wanted him dead, whispered that the boy was a curse, a savage, a demon, but Cadwyl had been seen carrying Jon up from the port. If he had Jon killed he’d be questioned - at least for now, in the city- so Jon had to remain alive. When his strength had returned to him, and confident Cadwyl wouldn’t move on him in the city, Jon is sold to the fighting pits in Meereen. A man, Ygon, was reluctant at first, but eventually came around to taking Jon under his wing so the lad wouldn't be picked off quick. Jon began learning to defend himself. He was quick, he hit hard, and he went for hours at a time, until all of him ached and the sweat dropped in buckets. Life continued until he was sixteen when, the night before a dozen men were to be executed from Meereen's dungeon, Jon crept inside the bastion to see what they were about. Always curious. Their crimes ranged from arson to murder, and in them Jon saw his way off of the island. His days were numbered if he remained, He knew, and they were likely numbered if he freed the prisoners before him. But He was willing to take the chance. Though just fourteen, He could handle himself. He set about letting the prisoners free. They agreed to take him with them if he could keep up. Fall behind, He was told, and they wouldn’t return for him. The group made their escape. He found the Pride still berthed. A spoil Cadwyl must have had held onto. They took it. Just what Jon Barrowstark’s been up to these years, from fourteen to the present, no one’s quite sure. There have been reports of a man matching his description terrorising towns and travelling merchants and small ships, but nothing concrete has come to light. On the road and the open water he's become quite adept in learning to survive the extreme. Recently the Pride was seen ambling toward the North. Just what the lad intends to do, however, is anyone’s guess. Family * Benjen Barrowstark (Brother) * Rickon Barrowstark (Brother) (378 AC) * Ciara Barrowstark (Sister) (378 AC) * Rickard Barrowstark (Brother) (382 AC) Timeline * 372AC - Jon Barrowstark is born, later that year he's abducted from his crib and sent away on a ship * 382AC - Having been brought up on the ship, befriending Torwyn and Asha, being taken in by the Cook and his wife, Jon has learned to read and keep the ships books. The Pride is boarded by a party led by Cadwyl. The crew is slaughtered, save Jon, who'd nailed to the prow. Taken back to Meereen where he lives a slave. * 388AC - Hears of a group of prisoners to be executed, releases them in exchange for passage amongst them * 398 AC - Jon's ship, the Pride, has been spotted heading toward Northern ports Category:House Barrowstark Category:Northerner